A weekly look by Bryan Stevens at birds and birding in Northeast Tennessee

Tag Archives: Eastern Towhee

Mary Beierle, who lives in Elizabethton, Tennessee, sent me an email to share information about recent nesting activity by a pair of Eastern towhees at her home in the Stoney Creek community.

“Just wanted to tell you that we have a nesting pair of Eastern towhees here in Stoney Creek,” Mary wrote in her email. “This is the first year they have stayed after a brief visit in early spring.”

While not as many people may be familiar with Eastern towhees as, say, northern cardinals or ruby-throated hummingbirds, those who have made an acquaintance with these unusual songbirds are, like Mary, captivated instantly.

“I am very fond of these birds,” she noted in her email. “The male is really beautiful and the female is also lovely, although not as colorful as the male.”

Eastern towhees spend much of their time on the ground and hidden in thickets and hedges. As a result, other common names for this bird includes “ground robin” and “swamp robin,” which refer to some of this bird’s habitat preferences. They’re not thrushes, however, and are unrelated to thrush family members such as American robin, Eastern bluebird and wood thrush. Instead, towhees are one of the larger members of the sparrow family.

Mary noted some of this bird’s typical behavior from her observations. “I love the way they hop around,” she wrote. “They are very skittish, and I can’t get them to stand still for a photo.”

At my own home, I have a pair of Eastern towhees currently occupied with nesting. When I get too close, both parents claim an elevated perch and call in agitation as long as I am in the vicinity. The towhees are just one of many nesting birds so far this spring. Other nesting birds in my yard or the surrounding woodlands this spring have included tree swallow, Eastern bluebird, brown thrasher, song sparrow, American robin and Eastern phoebe.

The Eastern towhee represents a bit of a milestone in my personal birding history. I saw and identified my first Eastern towhee in early spring in 1993. At that time, I was struggling to identify some of the common visitors at my feeders. I was acquainted with white-breasted nuthatches, blue jays, downy woodpeckers, Carolina wrens, dark-eyed juncos and a handful of other birds. When I looked out a window and saw this bird feeding on the ground, the morning sun illuminating his dramatic plumage of black, white and rufous red, I was immediately aware this visitor represented something new and unexpected.

Consulting a field guide — I was using the Golden Nature Guide to the Most Familiar American Birds at the time — I soon found a painted illustration of a rufous-sided towhee that matched in every detail the bird I had just observed on the ground beneath a blue spruce in my yard.

Many of the older field guides still list the Eastern towhee as “rufous-sided towhee” which is actually more descriptive of the bird’s appearance than the word “eastern.” In 1995, ornithologists renamed the rufous-sided towhee to Eastern towhee and also separated the Eastern species from its western counterpart, the spotted towhee. Until that point, these two towhees had been considered different races of the same species. In 2003, I saw a spotted towhee during a visit to Salt Lake City, Utah. The bird looks almost identical to an Eastern towhee except for considerable white spotting — hence its common name — on the bird’s back.

Male Eastern Towhee sings from a perch.

Male and female Eastern towhees each possess a stately if subtle beauty. Males have a black hood. The black coloration extends into the back and tail. The belly is white and the sides are flanked with a rusty-red color. In flight, their black tails are bordered with white feathers, which produces a dramatic flash of contrasting colors. The female Eastern towhee is an attractive bird in her own right. She shares the rufous sides and white coloration that are present in the male’s plumage. However, the male’s black feathers are replaced by a warm, chocolate brown plumage in the female. In addition, their bright red eyes help set these birds apart from other songbirds.

The Eastern towhee is one of my favorite yard birds, but not just because of its dramatic appearance. These birds also have some instantly recognizable vocalizations. With the arrival of spring, the males will seek elevated perches for extensive singing bouts to attract mates and establish territories. Their song has been interpreted, quite accurately, as an emphatically delivered “Drink your tea!” They also have some alarm notes, such as “Chew-ink” and “Toe-Hee,” which provides the basis for this bird’s common name.

Female Eastern Towhees are usually more retiring than males.

They are often found in the same sort of tangled habitat favored by Northern cardinals, gray catbirds and brown thrashers. To attract these birds, simply refrain from doing too much to alter your landscape. For instance, don’t manicure every square inch of your yard. Leave some wild corners that will run rampant and provide a luxurious tangle for birds that thrive under cover. In the southern United States, towhees prosper in scrub palmetto habitats. In our region, any hedge or bramble thicket will provide adequate cover to make these birds feel welcome.

While they may never completely lose their wariness, towhees will become gradually more accepting of sharing a yard with people. It helps that they will readily visit feeders for sunflower seeds. If you succeed in attracting a family of Eastern towhees to your yard and garden, I am confident you’ll not be disappointed.

Photo by Bryan Stevens A male Eastern Towhee sings from an elevated perch.

The fact that April is already so far advanced has caught me somewhat by surprise, which is surprising since there are plenty of signs letting me know spring’s approaching. For instance, each morning when I leave for work I usually hear a cacophony of singing birds, including Eastern Bluebirds, Song Sparrows, Tufted Titmice and Carolina Chickadees.

The birds are stirring, and that always means the seasons are shifting. On bird that has been quite prominent in the yard for the past few weeks has been the Eastern Towhees. We had several individuals, both males and females, spend the winter near the feeders.

I saw and identified my first Eastern Towhee in early spring in 1993. At that time, I was struggling to identify some of the common visitors at my feeders. I was acquainted with White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue Jays, Downy Woodpeckers, Carolina Wrens, Dark-eyed Juncos and a handful of other birds. When I looked out a window and saw this bird feeding on the ground, the morning sun illuminating his dramatic plumage of black, white and rufous red, I was immediately aware this visitor represented something new and unexpected.

Consulting a field guide — I was using the Golden Nature Guide to the Most Familiar American Birds — I soon found a painted illustration of a Rufous-sided Towhee that matched in every detail the bird I had just observed on the ground beneath a Blue Spruce in my yard.

Many of the older field guides still list the Eastern Towhee as “Rufous-sided Towhee,” which is actually more descriptive of the bird’s appearance than the word “eastern.”

In 1995, ornithologists renamed the Rufous-sided Towhee to Eastern Towhee and also separated the Eastern Towhee from its western counterpart, the Spotted Towhee. Until that point, these two towhees had been considered different races of the same species.

In 2003, I saw a Spotted Towhee during a visit to Salt Lake City, Utah. The bird looks almost identical to an Eastern Towhee except for considerable white spotting — hence its common name — on the bird’s back.

Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service The female Eastern Towhee’s plumage is a rich, chocolate brown where the male’s feathers are black.

Eastern Towhees do spend a considerable amount of time on the ground and hidden in thickets and hedges. Other common names for this bird includes “Ground Robin” and “Swamp Robin.” They are one of the larger members of the sparrow family, however, and not related to the thrush family, which includes such birds as American Robin, Eastern Bluebird and Wood Thrush.

Photo by Bryan Stevens Towhees spend much of their time on the ground when searching for food.

Unlike the “brown” members of the sparrow family, the Eastern Towhee is a brightly colored bird. Males have a black hood. The black coloration extends into the back and tail. The belly is white and the sides are flanked with a rusty-red color. In flight, their black tails are bordered with white feathers, which produces a dramatic flash of contrasting colors. The female Eastern Towhee is an attractive bird in her own right. She shares the rufous sides and white coloration that are present in the male’s plumage. However, the male’s black feathers are replaced by a warm, chocolate brown plumage in the female.

The Eastern Towhee is one of my favorite yard birds, but not just because of its dramatic appearance. These birds also have some instantly recognizable vocalizations. With the arrival of spring, the males will seek elevated perches for extensive singing bouts to attract mates and establish territories. Their song has been interpreted, quite accurately, as “Drink your tea!” They also have some alarm notes, such as “Chew-ink” and “Toe-Hee,” which is the basis for this bird’s common name.

Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Although the smallest member of the towhee family, the Green-tailed Towhee is still a larger bird than most members of the sparrow clan.

They are often found in the same sort of tangled habitat favored by Northern Cardinals and Brown Thrashers. To attract these birds, don’t manicure every inch of your yard. Leave some wild corners that will provide shelter for birds that thrive under cover. In the southern United States, these birds thrive in scrub palmetto habitats.

Other North American towhees include Green-tailed Towhee, Abert’s Towhee, California Towhee and Canyon Towhee.

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I want to close this week’s column by asking for help from readers. I love to document the yearly arrival of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. I’d appreciate hearing from any readers who would like to share the information about their first hummingbird sighting of the season. Simply send me your name and location, as well as the date and time when your first hummingbird arrived. The best way to contact me is by my email at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com. Messages are also welcome through my Facebook account at http://www.facebook.com/ahoodedwarbler.

We are midway through March, and the birds are on the move. We’ve been fortunate to enjoy some beautiful spring weather and all the accompanying flowers in the last couple of weeks. The next month or so will feature a lot of transition as our winter resident birds prepare to depart and some of our beloved summer residents return to spend the next few months with us.

For instance, the Buffleheads that congregate on Wilbur Lake in Carter County are already dispersing to local rivers and ponds. After spending some time on these other waterways, they will be flying farther north. Buffleheads are cavity-nesting birds, so they will look for wooded lakes and seek out a tree with a large cavity or cranny. There, the female will lay her eggs and renew the cycle of life before the adults and a new generation return to winter in the region in several months.

These little two-toned ducks with a dark and light plumage pattern have long been a favorite of mine. Patsy Schang sent me a photo of a pair of Buffleheads that visited a pond at her neighbor’s Roan Mountain home. As you can see from the accompanying photograph, the two Buffleheads look quite at home.

“I was so excited to see these ducks on our neighbor’s pond,” Patsy wrote in her email. “I think they are Buffleheads – my first!”

Patsy had no trouble identifying the ducks, and I congratulated her on her first sighting of Buffleheads, It’s always fun to see a new bird, especially so close to home.

According to the Ducks Unlimited website, Buffleheads breed from southern Alaska through the forested areas of western Canada, central Ontario and eastern Quebec.

The website notes that 90 percent of the population is believed to breed from Manitoba westward. So, these little ducks travel a long way to spend the winter on Wilbur Lake, Ripshin Lake and other locations in Northeast Tennessee.

•••••

Karla Smith sent me an email about a nesting colony of Great Blue Herons in Elizabethton.

Photo by Bryan StevensThis colony of nesting Great Blue Herons is located behind the Elizabethton Municipal Airport.

“I didn’t know if you had heard about the herons that are nesting in the tops of two trees behind the airport in Elizabethton,” Karla wrote in her email. “I believe they are herons. I am not an avid bird watcher, but do enjoy them and sighted these a few weeks ago. There are six nests total in the two trees and it is quite a sight to see.”

I went the next day and found the nests and several herons exactly where Karla informed me they would be. This is only the second time I have observed nesting Great Blue Herons in Carter County.

I counted six nests and seven herons during my brief visit to the location. The two trees are on a steep hillside at the back of a field behind the Elizabethton Municipal Airport. From this location, the adult herons can spread out along the nearby Watauga River to find plenty of food once the young are born.

In addition to the herons near the airport, there are at least two active Great Blue Heron nests along Blevins Road on the other side of Elizabethton. This location also served as a nesting place last year for Yellow-crowned Night-Herons.

I posted about the heron nesting colony at the airport on my Facebook page and several friends shared interesting stories.

Photo by Bryan StevensA Great Blue Heron stands in a nest built in a tree over the Watauga River along Blevins Road in Elizabethton.

Sandra “Snad” Garrett said she plans to check out the colony, which is not far from the Stoney Creek home she shares with her husband.

“We used to enjoy watching a huge rookery on the Mississippi River in North Minneapolis when we lived there,” she wrote. “I had no idea there was a rookery so close to us here.”

Seeing the post reminded Elizabethton resident Rita F. Schuettler of a previous close encounter with a Great Blue Heron.

“I was fishing on the Watauga River when I saw my first Great Blue Heron,” she said. “It was close by and staring at me. Scared me to death, but I was thrilled to see it.”

In a follow-up moment, I congratulated Rita, telling her that it’s difficult to sneak up on a Great Blue Heron and that it sounded like they both got surprised.

“I was sitting there motionless fishing and he was standing there motionless fishing,” Rita wrote in another post. “I don’t know who was there first. It might have scared him also, because he flew away!”

•••••

I saw my first Barn Swallow of the spring on March 19 at Anderson Marsh on the old Johnson City Highway near the Okolona exit. There was also a Great Blue Heron in the creek at the same location.

The previous day, it was all about the raptors, as I found a Sharp-shinned Hawk on Simerly Creek Road, an American Kestrel in Unicoi and a Red-tailed Hawk and a Cooper’s Hawk both soaring in the same vicinity in Johnson City. Once I tossed in both Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures, it capped off what amounted to a pretty good raptor day.

On March 17, the only wild waterfowl lingering at the pond at Erwin Fishery Park turned out to be a pair of American Wigeon. On land, I also enjoyed watching a large mixed flock that consisted of Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds and European Starlings. They were feeding on shelled corn that some good-hearted person had probably left for the domestic ducks and geese that make their home at the pond.

All this activity is proof that the seasons are changing, and with them the makeup of the birds that share our yards and gardens.

••••••

Photo by Bryan StevensA male Eastern Towhee feeds on the ground beneath a feeder hanging in a tree.

Elizabethton resident Dee Obrien contacted me on Facebook with a question about a bird she saw recently at her home.

“I have an unusual bird in the yard,” she wrote in her message. “He’s about the size of a robin or mockingbird. Is black on top with white bars on his wings. Rust color on outer sides of his belly, but is off white in the middle of his belly. He is a ground feeder.”

I was glad Dee included the information on the bird’s behavior. Details like that are just as important as size and coloration. From her detailed description, including the information about its ground-feeding habits, I was able to figure out that she had seen an Eastern Towhee. Later, she notified me that she had consulted a field guide and agreed with my identification.

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It’s great to hear from so many fellow bird enthusiasts. That’s been one of my goals with this blog. I hope to continue to receive communications from readers. Otherwise, it’s just me writing about the birds I have seen. I’d much rather have this blog become more engaging and interactive where people can share their enthusiasm for our fine feathered friends.

It’s easy to post comments on my new blog at ourfinefeatheredfriends.wordpress.com. You can also reach me on Facebook or send email to ahoodedwarbler@aol.com. Please share the link to the blog with others who might be interested in the topic of birds and birding in Northeast Tennessee.

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There’s a new poll this week. Here’s the answer to last week’s poll. Which of the red-necked birds in the list specified in the poll isn’t a real bird? Well, the answer is Red-necked Goose. I hope everyone got the correct answer.